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(No Model.) 4Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. J. SPRAGUE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR.

Patented Mar. 25, 1890.

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4 SheetsSheet 2. P. J. SPRAGUE.

ELEGTRIU RAILWAY MOTORL No. 424,436. Patented Mar. 25, 1 890.

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4- Sheets-Sheet 3.

P. J. SPRAGUE. ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR.

v(No Model.)

'No. 424,436. Patented Mar. 25, 1890'.

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4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

PatentedMar. 25, 1890 N. PETERS. mumm Wlllhlhh. EC.

(No Model.)

P. J. SPRAGUE. ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR. No. 424,436;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK .I. SPRAGUE, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE SPRAGUE ELECTRIC RAILIVAY AND MOTOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRlC-RAI LWAY MOTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,436, dated March 25, 1890. Application filed March 30, 1889. Serial No. 305,476- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK .I. SPRAGUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric-Railway Motors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the propulsion of cars or vehicles by means of electric motors supported upon the same and receiving current from any suitable source in any known or suitable manner.

More especially my invention relates to the manner of supporting a motor or motors upon a vehicle, my objects being, mainly, to furnish a secure and convenient attachment and arrangement for the motor or motors, to economize space, to make the springs which support the ear-body independent of the weight or the movements of the motor and the motor or motors independent of the movements of the cai body on its springs, to distribute the weight of the motors as evenly as possible, to make the point of support for the motor or motors such that they will have the minimum of bodily movement, to provide for constant efiective engagement of the gearing which transmits motion from motor-shafts to driving-axles, and to provide especially for the use of a plurality of motors upon the same truck or vehicle in such a way as to economize space, and also make each motor independent of the movements of any other.

In carrying my invention into effect 1 prefer to make use of the vertically-movable axle-boxes upon which the truck-frame, or carbody is supported by springs or flexible supports as a support also for the motor or motors, the suspension or support of such motor or motors being also preferably through springs or flexible supports. Then my invention is thus applied to a truck of that kind which is detachable from the car-body it results in the production of a motive-truck for a car, which truck contains entirely within itself the motive power for propelling the car, and which truck supports the car-body and the motor or motors by independent flexible supports. I prefer that the support for the motor or motors shall not be directly upon the axle-boxes, but upon a frame adjoining such axle-boxes mechanically. Many railway-car trucks are constructed with such frames, consisting of side pieces or equalizing-bars joining axle-boxes on each side of the truck or vehicle, and a cross-frame supported by springs from said side pieces or boxes and joining them together, and upon which through springs the car-body is supported. In applying my invention to trucks of this character I support the motor or motors flexibly upon the said cross-fra me but in ordinary street-car trucks the axle-boxes are not so joined, and therefore in applying my invention to these, or in especially constructing trucks or cars according to my invention, I join the axle-boxes on each side by side pieces or equalizing-bars, and join the two equalizing-bars by a cross bar, beam, or frame, which I make theimmediate support for the motor or motors, preferably through springs or otherwise flexibly. By supporting the motor or motors thus centrally from all the axle-boxes, such motor or motors receive the smallest possible amount of movement therefrom.

I prefer to support the motor at one end only upon the axle-boxes, as just set forth, while atits other end I cen ter it upon the axle, with which its armature-shaft is mechanically geared or connected by means of extensions or portions of its field-magnet sleeved upon such axle, as set forth generally in my patent, No. 324,892, dated August 25, 1885.

I provide each truck or vehicle with a plurality of motors-that is to say, more than one and I support each motor by a flexible support independently of the others, whereby each is capable of bodily movement without interfering with or affecting another.

I prefer to use two motors placed between two driving-axles of a truck or vehicle and flexibly supported end to end at or near the middle part of the truck or vehicle, and extending each lengthwise of the vehicle toward one of the said axles, upon which axle it is centered, as above stated, and with which its armature-shaft is mechanically connected or geared, a common support for the motors being formed by the said frame, bar,beam, or other part or structure, which forms a connection between the two equalizing-bars.

Myinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a top plan View of a truck embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of the same on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, aside elevation of the truck with the motors omitted; Fig. 4, a side elevation and partial section of another form of truck embodying my invention; .Fig. 5, a top View of a part of the same truck; Fig. 6, a side elevation showing the use of my invention with another arrangement of equalizingbars, and Fig. 7 a top view of a portion of the same.

The truck shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is a bogie-truck of the character in which the carbody has a pivotal movement upon the center of the truck. A A are driving-axles of the truck, and B B the wheels thereof, the axles turning in axle-boxes 0 outside the wheels, and the axle-boxes being vertically movable in pedestals C. From one axle-box to the other, on each side, extends the equalizingbar D, such bars being so attached to or supported upon the axle-boxes at their ends as to have a limited play or movement. The frame 0 is supported from the bars D by heavy spiral springs F F. E is the spring-board or sandboard, hung from longitudinal girders of the frame 0 by stirrups O.- The elliptic springs Q are mounted upon the board E, and carry the cross-bolster P, which carries the pivoting-support for the car-body. The electric motors are circular in form, S S being the field-magnet windings, and G the armature. The motors are each sleeved on the driving-axle at one end of the truck at two points 6, and brackets N, extending from one pole-piece to the other, support the armature-shaft. Upon each end of each armatureshaft is a pinion H, and these pinions engage gear-wheels M on the driving-axles to turn the same. From one side of frame 0 to the other, and before and behind the springs Q, there extends a pair of cross-bars a, and from these cross-bars the motors are flexibly supported. A bolt 12, passing through a lug c, projecting from the motor, passes also through a box it, which is supported from the pair of cross-bars a, and within said box his aspring (Z, so that through the bolt 6 and the spring (1 and cross-bars a, frame 0, and springs F, the motors are flexibly supported from the equalizing-bars, which are connected with the axle-boxes.

The arrangement just described is shown and described in my application, Serial No. 301,683, filed March 1,1889, and also in my application, Serial No. 313,093, filed June 4, 1889, but is not claimed in either of said applications, except with reference to the manner of centering the motor upon the driving-axle, which is not claimed in the present application.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a street-car track in which the equalizing-bar D extends on each side directly from the top of one axle-box to the top of the other. In this arrangement the springs which support the truck-frame and car-body, instead of being attached to the equalizing-bars, are connected with arms 0), which extend from the lower portion of the axle-box, and through which pass bolts 1', around which the springs k are coiled. At the middle of the car, between the motors, two cross-bars I I extend from one equalizing-bar to the other, and at the center of the car the bars I I are joined by the frame K, which is the part which carries the motors directly. The motors shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are of different character from those in the preceding figures, being U-shaped motors with one branch L of the field-magnet situated above the other and having curved pole-pieces T, whichinclose the armature G. At the keeper of the field-magnet or end farthest from the pole-pieces each magnet is sleeved upon the driving-axle A at two points, one on each side of the motor. The sleeving-support is shown on only one sidein the drawings, only a portion of the truck being shown in Fig. 5; but it will be understood that the arrangement is precisely the same on both sides. A bracket extends from the keeper on each side, formed or provided with a sleeve 6, inclosing the axle, and such brackets in the form shown form also supports for counter -shafts U. In the arrangement shown, instead of a pinion at each end of each armature-shaft, each of such shafts has a pinion H at one end only, which engages a gear-wheel V on the counter-shaft U, while at the other end of each counter-shaft a pinion V engages a gearwheel M on the driving-axle. At the inner end of each motor it has a lug or projection m extending from it, through which passes a bolt 72, which is hung by an eye 0 on a pin 13, extending across the frame K, and upon this bolt above and below the lugs m is a spring q, bearing at its lower end against a head a on the lower end of said bolt. It will be seen that the motors are thus independently flexibly supported from the frame carried by the equalizing-bars and axle-boxes, and the carbody is supported also from the axle-boxes upon springs independently of the motors.

The arrangement shown in Figs. 6 and 7 differs from thatj ust described in the arrangement of the equalizing-bar, which extends from the top of one axle-box to the top of the other; but instead of passing straight across, as in Fig. 4, it curves downwardly at the middle of the car below the motors, and this makes it necessary to suspend the motors from below instead of from above. Such suspension is, however, accomplished in the same way, as before described, by means of the cross-bars I, frame K, and springs g. It will readily be seen that'many different forms and arrangements can be given to the equalizingbars, and that they may be connected with IIO the axle-boxes in various ways and to the bottom or other part as well as to the top of said axle-boxes. The arrangement of the crossframe, bar, beam, or other connection be-" tween the equalizing-bars and other mechanical details of construction may also be varied without departing from my invention.

In each of the arrangements illustrated and described it will be seen that there are two independently flexibly-supportedmotors that they are supported from a common support; that each of these motors is centered on the axle which it drives; that there is a truck which flexibly supports within itself its motive power,'and at the same time flexibly supports the car-body; that the movable axleboxes are employed to support the motors, the suspension in each case being of a flexible character, and that the more immediate support for the motor is a frame or other part or structure joining the axle-boxes together, and composed of an equalizing-bar on each side and a part joining the two equalizingbars, and that such axle-boxes in every case support the motor or motors through one set of springs or flexible support, and the carbody or truck-frame through another.

By the employment of the features of construction thus generally enumerated and hereinbefore particularly described, I produce a compact, strong, and simple structure, and arrangement in which the motors are not materially affected by each others movements or by the weight or movements ofthe carbody, and neither are the car-springs affected by the weight or movements of the motor or motors, in which the motors are so supported that their weight is well distributed, and that they have the minimum amount of bodily movement upon their supporting parts, and in which the engagement of the gearing between armature-shafts and axles is effectively provided for and maintained.

I do not claim in this application supporting the motor or motors upon the verticallymovable axle-boxes of the vehicle or any features of invention which involve that construction specifically, such matters being claimed in my application filed October 31, 1889, Serial No. 328,795, which is a division of this application. Neither do I claim herein such features of invention as are claimed in another division of this application filed June 11, 1889, Serial No. 313,874, such features being in general the supporting of an electric motor from a cross-piece carried by the equalizing-bars, the other end of the motor being centered on the axle of the vehicle, and also arranging two motors in this way, each extending from the cross-piece to one axle. Neither do I claim herein the combination of a frame joining the axles of a railway-truck and mounted thereon independent of the springs supporting the car-body with an electric motor having at one end a bearing upon the axle independent of the frame and a connection to the frame upholding the free end of the motor, this being the subject-matter of an interference in which my said application Serial No. 313,874 is involved.

That I claim is- 1. The combination, with a wheeled truck or vehicle, of a plurality of independently flexibly-supported electric motors thereon, and independent power-transmitting connections between the armature-shafts of said motors and the wheels of said truck or vehicle, substantially as set forth. 7

2. The combination, with a wheeled truck or vehicle having two axles, of two independently flexibly-supported electric motors mounted upon said truck or vehicle, the armature-shaft of each motor being mechanically connected with one of said axles for giving motion thereto, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a wheeled truck or vehicle having two axles, of two independently flexibly-supported electric motors situated end to end at the middle part of said truck or vehicle between the two axles and each motor extending toward one of said axles, with which axle its armature-shaftis mechanically connected, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, witha wheeled truck or vehicle having two axles, of two electric motors situated end to end at the middle part of said truck or vehicle and each centered at its other end on one of said axles, each of said motors having its armature-shaft mechanically connected with the axle on which itis centered for giving motion thereto, substantially as set forth. p

5. The combination, with a wheeled truck or vehicle, of a plurality of electric motors,,

each carried flexibly and independently of the other upon a common support, and each having its armature-shaft mechanically 0on nected with an axle of the vehicle for giving motion thereto, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with a wheeled truck or vehicle,of two electric motors,both of which are flexibly supported at one end upon a common support, and each of which is centered tered upon an axle, with which its armatureshaft is mechanically connected, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 21st day of March, 1889;

FRANK J. SPRAGUE.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM PELZER, D. II. DRISCOLL. 

